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Spending Again, Mets Lure Granderson

Curtis Granderson will spend the next four years playing for the Mets.Credit
Uli Seit for The New York Times

When Curtis Granderson said earlier this week that he had the salmon while having lunch with Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, the comment, almost predictably, turned into comic material. The Mets could not afford to offer Granderson a steak, the Twitter jokes went. The Mets had to split the bill. And of course Granderson ended up eating salmon; the Mets, after all, are always swimming upstream.

For Alderson’s first three seasons as general manager, it has certainly seemed that way. With the Mets trying to get out from under their financial problems, Alderson was not able to spend much. The off-seasons would arrive, and Alderson would sign players to minor league deals or $2 million or $3 million contracts. Small stuff. Forgettable deals. Depressing, if you were a Mets fan.

At one point, Scott Boras, the game’s most powerful agent, mockingly observed that the Mets were shopping in the “fruit and nuts” section of the supermarket.

For that matter, Alderson jabbed at his own team, joking at one point that he would hold a fund-raiser for gas money so that he could drive to spring training.

But on Friday, the joking, and the penny-pinching, came to an end. For the first time since taking over in October 2010, Alderson stuck his and the Mets’ necks out and spent significant money on a free-agent player.

The recipient was Granderson, Alderson’s lunch partner last Sunday, who agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal that will allow him to simply move his gear from the Bronx to Queens. The Mets hope he can display the power he showed in 2011 and 2012 as a Yankee, when he hit a combined 84 home runs before spending much of the 2013 season on the disabled list with hand and arm injuries.

The money for the 32-year-old Granderson pales in comparison to the $240 million in the 10-year deal that another ex-Yankee, Robinson Cano, agreed to on Friday with the Seattle Mariners, but for the Mets, $60 million was a splurge. It is five times the amount of the biggest free-agent contract Alderson had signed off on during the past three winters — a regrettable two-year, $12 million deal he gave reliever Frank Francisco — and signals that the Mets, after a long hibernation, are finally willing to do what other teams regularly do: take a chance.

Granderson, they hope, will justify the risk.

As a left-handed power bat he can be paired with the right-handed-hitting David Wright in the middle of the lineup, although Granderson’s .261 career average hardly makes him a perfect fit there.

A good defensive player and a center fielder by trade, Granderson also solidifies the Mets’ outfield, which should now consist of him in left, the impressive 2013 rookie Juan Lagares in center, and Chris Young, who recently signed a one-year, $7.25 million contract, in right.

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Young hits right-handed but in other ways mirrors Granderson. Both are good runners and solid defensive players who can hit with power, but they also strike out a lot, which could pose problems in assembling an effective 2014 lineup.

Because Granderson played in the Bronx the last four seasons, the Mets no doubt were familiar with his reputation as an affable, charitable player, and it is possible they will seek to quickly make him a face of the team as they try to rebuild an eroding fan base.

A third-round pick by Detroit in the 2002 draft, Granderson became the Tigers’ regular center fielder in 2006, when they went to the World Series. He was acquired by the Yankees in December 2009 in a three-way trade that also involved the Arizona Diamondbacks. Granderson had a modest first season in the Bronx but then exploded for 41 home runs (and 119 runs batted in) in 2011. It was a career high in homers, but he topped it in 2012 with 43 while driving in 106 runs.

Two mishaps sideswiped his 2013 season. Struck by a pitch in spring training, he ended up with a broken right forearm. After he returned, he was hit by another pitch in May, this time breaking the knuckle on his left pinkie. In all, he missed 101 games and hit just seven home runs, while batting .229, the lowest mark of his career.

The Mets can only hope that Granderson’s power will translate to Citi Field, even though it is hardly as friendly as Yankee Stadium is for a home run hitter. Then again, the Mets also play 81 games on the road. And if nothing else, Granderson’s presence as a veteran player with a lot of postseason experience could pay dividends on a team with a lot of younger players still trying to find their way. And the pitching staff should probably have a party to celebrate its new, defensively outstanding outfield.

Alderson has now committed roughly $23 million in next year’s payroll to rebuild his outfield (“What outfield?” he joked not that long ago). And he now has options with Eric Young, who was the left-fielder for much of 2013 and now becomes a valuable fourth outfielder/pinch-hitter/pinch-runner unless he is shifted to second base. If that were to happen, Daniel Murphy could be put on the trading block or shifted to first.

Alderson still needs a veteran pitcher to fill out a starting staff that will be missing Matt Harvey this season. Alderson may also want to add to his bullpen, and he presumably has at least some money left to spend on those needs. But if nothing else, getting Granderson makes the Mets look somewhat relevant again. And that’s not a joke.

A version of this article appears in print on December 7, 2013, on Page D2 of the New York edition with the headline: Spending Again, Mets Lure Granderson From the Yankees. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe